Map shows states where you’re most likely to hit a deer while driving. Maine’s ranking may surprise you

The map above — an interactive version of which can be found by clicking here — is a current topic of conversation on the discussion board site Reddit. It shows where in the U.S. drivers are most likely to hit a deer, and despite Maine’s rural landscape and robust deer population, our state is surprisingly a little ways down the list.

Maine is right around the middle of the pack, at No. 23 out of 50 states.

While one might expect similarly rural, wild states like Montana and Wyoming to be near the top of the list and potentially edge Maine, the fact is more drivers hit deer in almost every southeastern and Mid-Atlantic state as well.

West Virginia boasts the highest likelihood of deer collisions at 2.56 percent, a rate almost four times that of Maine’s 0.67 percent.

Pennsylvania, Iowa and the aforementioned Montana all have rates about twice as high as Maine’s.

What can we say? Maybe Mainers are just more cautious drivers who are accustomed to avoiding deer.